Audioplayer
A suite of the tunes written by Charles Villiers Stanford and Ralph Vaughan Williams as settings to the hymn, For all the saints. This version adapts three harmonizations by Stanford, two (verbatim) by Vaughan Williams, with an introduction, descant, and two original harmonizations.
Sine Nomine / Engelberg Suite
Price:
$7.49
The tune SINE NOMINE is one of four original hymnal settings by Ralph Vaughan Williams, introduced in the 1906 The English Hymnal and written specifically for this text. Two years prior, Stanford's tune ENGELBERG appeared in an edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern in hybrid form as a hymn-anthem. The version here uses both of Vaughan Williams harmonizations, and in the middle, three of Stanford's five harmonizations. The final two verses are new harmonizations. This hymn is most often used as a processional hymn in observance of the Solemnity of All Saints.
The word saint is of French derivation, a cognate of the Latin sanctus, holy. (The Old English word for holy is hallow, as in 'hallowed be thy name,' and for the night before this feast, All Hallows Eve.) Its original use referred to anyone who set aside their life as a follower of Christ within the church - it did not refer to celebrity saints who were canonized by Rome, nor to its popular use as an unusually good person. In Corinthians 16:1, Paul refers to a “collection for the saints" in Jerusalem, the everyday believers enduring a famine. For all the saints is written with this framing in mind.
Sine nomine is Latin for 'without a name,' publishing terminology for an anonymous submission. Though this may be a case of Vaughan Williams trolling the publication he was music editor of, it is nevertheless reminiscent of the lectionary for the Feast of All Saints, "And there are some who have no memorial, who have perished as though they had not lived; they have become as though they had not been born, and so have their children after them." (Ecclesiasticus 44).
The communion of saints
In the Anglican doctrine of the Communion of Saints, Christ's church on earth is consdered to be the Church Militant, the assembly of the faithful serving the world and the church while in this earthly frame. Those who have died in the faith are the Church Triumphant. From Etymology Online, regarding the word militant:
Originally especially in Church militant (early 15c., chirche militans), which is the Church on earth, seen as engaged in warfare with the devil, the flesh, and worldly powers of temptation and unrighteousness. The Church triumphant (1550s) is the collective body of saints now glorified in heaven.
These comprise a whole, the Communion of Saints, the word communion itself of Augustinian coinage meaning 'together one.' It includes all the faithful, as Walsham How makes explicit in the verse
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one, and all in thee are thine, Alleluia!
Current edition
SNEORG2601 initial release
- Organ score
- Choir / voice part
* Ralph Vaughan Williams harmonization
For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might;
thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
thou, in the darkness drear, the one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win, with them, the victor's crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors cometh rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
This item is about $10 at Staples or my local production shop, with vinyl back and acetate cover.
Click the 
icon (twice) to view full screen. Or click 'Watch on'Youtube', but still, you need two clicks to get full screen.
